The combustion of conventional fuels, such as gasoline and diesel, has proven to be essential in a myriad of industrial processes. The combustion of gasoline and diesel, however, may often be accompanied by various drawbacks including increased production costs and increased carbon emissions. In view of the foregoing, recent efforts have focused on alternative fuels with decreased carbon emissions, such as natural gas, to combat the drawbacks of combusting conventional fuels. In addition to providing a “cleaner” alternative fuel with decreased carbon emissions, combusting natural gas may also be relatively safer than combusting conventional fuels. For example, the relatively low density of natural gas allows it to safely and readily dissipate to the atmosphere in the event of a leak. In contrast, conventional fuels (e.g., gasoline and diesel) have a relatively high density and tend to settle or accumulate in the event of a leak, which may present a hazardous and potentially fatal working environment for nearby operators.
While utilizing natural gas may address some of the drawbacks of conventional fuels, the storage and transport of natural gas often prevent it from being viewed as a viable alternative to conventional fuels. Accordingly, natural gas is routinely converted into liquefied natural gas (LNG) at LNG plants and transported from the LNG plants to the customers via tankers. The availability of the LNG, however, may often be limited by the proximity of the customers to the LNG plants. For example, customers that are remotely located from the LNG plants may often rely on deliveries from the tankers, which may increase the cost of utilizing the LNG. Additionally, remotely located customers may often be required to maintain larger, cost-prohibitive storage tanks to reduce the frequency of the deliveries and/or their dependence on the tankers.
In view of the foregoing, small scale LNG plants have been developed to produce the LNG at pressure letdown stations. The utility of the small scale LNG plants, however, may often be limited to pressure letdown stations having a relatively high pressure natural gas source. Further, the variability in the properties (e.g., temperature, pressure, purity, etc.) of the natural gas available at each of the pressure letdown stations may make the designing, engineering, and manufacturing of the small scale LNG plants cost-prohibitive and/or impractical.
What is needed, then, is a system and method for producing liquefied natural gas from a wide variety of natural gas sources.